Sun Tzu, the ancient Chinese military philosopher who is oft quoted in our military institutions, wrote "One who is not acquainted with the designs of his neighbors should not enter into alliances with them."

This quote surfaced in my consciousness as I walked the aisles of a new Dollar-type store yesterday, picking up items and turning them over to see where they were made. I counted 20 items, of which 19 were made in "China," and one in Pakistan. As a WWII baby boomer who grew up during the 50s and 60s, I could not help but shudder in the fact that I was holding items that were made by an avowed enemy, one that along with the former Soviet Union, forced me and my classmates in elementary school and junior high school to practice "Duck and Cover" and quick response to air raid sirens. In those post-war days we had a Civil Defense organization, were encouraged to prepare for a nuclear strike, build fallout shelters, and be ready in case Russia, China, or even Castro came over the horizon. Those days have faded away, but living through the Cold War and the ever-present threat of "the bomb" will remain with us forever.

Now there is no Civil Defense Corps, the fallout shelters are empty or used for storage, and we are told that the Soviet Union has collapsed, and the Red China is now our trading partner (and Taiwan never mentioned), and the only Barbarians at the Gate are North Korea and certain countries in the Middle East that support terrorist organizations.

However, as a student of history, and a former intelligence analyst, I see another world growing up around us. One the media ignores, the politicians refuse to recognize, and one of which the American people remain ignorant. It is a world in which we are surrounded, being infiltrated, and readied for invasion.

To understand what his happening today, one must understand certain military tenets of warfare. These include:

* Infiltrate the enemy country with advance forces and spies.
* Pre-position supplies close to the anticipated battleground.
* Destroy the enemy's will to resist.
* Destroy the enemy population's morals and morale.
* Sew confusion among the enemy population.
* Cut lines of communication.
* Create diversions.
* Control all information and media outlets.
* Attack on many fronts.
* Destroy the enemy's capability to wage war.
* Reduce or destroy enemy's military bases.
* Strike only when ready and when enemy is at his weakest.

In the intelligence world, what we do is take pieces of information, like pieces of a puzzle, and "put them on the wall and see what picture develops." Lord Wellington of Waterloo once said "I've spent my entire military career wondering what the chap on the other side of the hill was doing." In intelligence circles, information gathering is chief among tasks, followed by "okay, what are they up to?"

Let us examine some current "intelligence indicators" and see what picture forms.

Over the last few decades, ever since Nixon went to China in 1972 to open trade relations, we have seen the Communist Chinese grow from a third-rate military force whose strength lay only in numbers to a very modern and well-equipped force ready to do battle on a global scale. Unlike Russia, the Chinese have done this very quietly, trying not to draw attention to their efforts, and with one goal in mind: destroy the United States and any allies. And we have helped them toward that goal. In fact, we continue to help them every day when we buy Chinese-made products. But beyond that, let's examine events that have strengthened China's military endeavors while weakening ours:

Carter gave away the Panama Canal, and now China operates it-and has total control of who uses it, what ships come and go, and who disembarks from those ships in Panama (such as Chinese males of military age that disappear into the hinterlands and later surface in Mexico close to our southern border).

Bill Clinton gave China "most favored nation" trading status, opening our market to cheap slave-labor-made goods, which also destroyed many US companies and costing us jobs by underselling the market with cheap products. At the same time we turned our back on long-time ally, Nationalist China. All of this to "appease" the Red Chinese.

Under the Clinton administration, Loral and Hughes were allowed to sell China missile technology and guidance systems for "communications satellites." Within months we were told that China now bragged about being able to deliver a nuclear warhead to Los Angeles.

Also under the Clinton watch, Chinese spies were discovered at Los Alamos and in other places, some of which stole nuclear secrets for the People's Liberation Army. ("All warfare is based on deception. There is no place where espionage is not used. Offer the enemy bait to lure him" -- Sun Tzu)

While all of this was happening, our southern border was being invaded by illegal aliens to the point that besides Mexicans, we have many reports of Asians, Central Americans, and Middle-easterners coming unhindered into the U.S.

Couple this with COSCO, the China Ocean Shipping Company, which is the Merchant Marine arm of the Chinese Navy, taking over not only the Panama Canal, but establishing a huge transshipment center in Freeport, Bahamas, just off the Florida coast. This huge complex contains some of the biggest cranes in the world, plus hundreds upon hundreds of Sealift containers the size of semi-trucks being stored there. When I see this I can't help but think of Diego Garcia, our forward deployment base in the Pacific.

It is well known in the military that the easiest thing to move is troops. The hardest to move is material. You can order troops to march onto a ship or airplane, but it takes forklifts, cranes and manpower to move supplies. By forward deploying your logistics you are already half a battle ahead.

And Freeport is not the only suspect position for Chinese pre-deployment stocks. Reports have surfaced about COSCO ships unloading in Mexico and Canada, plus several ports inside the US itself. A few years back we read of a shipment in a Sealift container that came into Long Beach, California, loaded with automatic AK-47s, machine guns, grenades and explosives. We were told it was intercepted, and that it was probably being smuggled in to street gangs. We may never know of how many other shipments went undetected, and are still being smuggled in and pre-positioned. And not for street gangs!

Add to all this the fact that our own troops have been over-extended, our military suffering a continuing "build down" by base closings, reducing the numbers of aircraft in our squadrons and ships in our fleets, and reduction of war stocks by expenditure without restocking, plus using up our reserves and national guard forces in extended overseas missions, and we have the recipe for disaster. In other words, there ain't no one home watching the chickens, and the wolf is prowling the broken fence line.

There are those who say that China is being influenced by prosperity, and that they are reaping the rewards of capitalism, and because of this have no reason to use military might to forward Mao's version of Communism. These pie-in-the-sky wishers do not understand the Chinese. What we are really doing is financing their military buildups, technology, and monetary base. Those who have forgotten history need to be reminded that we did the same thing in the 1930s when we sold scrap metal to Japan, only to reap the whirlwind when they used our metal in the ships and planes and bombs that attacked Pearl Harbor. Hitler's Germany also prospered from "free trade" by using our technology in the petroleum industry to manufacture fuels and lubricants by synthetic means. Still, we continue to feed the Chinese dragon and think nothing of where our money goes when we buy those items "Made in China."

While we are looking at the pieces of the puzzle, we also need to add the other pieces that match the tenets of war. Sun Tzu wrote that "Appraise war in terms of the fundamental factors. The first of these factors is moral influence", and also "When a leader is morally weak and his discipline not strict, when there are no consistent rules...Neighboring rulers will take advantage of this."

We can see the moral decay of this country over the last thirty years all around us. The types of TV programs, the language on radio talk shows, the "gay pride" marches in major cities, the loss of morals in our schools, attacks on Christianity, legal abortion-on-demand, laws that are totally contrary to what our founding fathers envisioned, courts that punish the victims more than the offenders, activist judges that legislate from the bench, removing mentions of God or the Ten Commandments from prayer and public property and public events, the bogus "war on drugs" that is actually putting more drugs on the street, church leaders that are afraid to preach
anything that might offend someone, and on and on.

An unjust and un-moral society is one doomed to extinction. Our founding fathers knew this. History verifies it. And the Chinese study it.

While China is ready to move on Taiwan at any time-they've positioned huge amphibious forces near the Straights of Formosa-and North Korea is ready to move south, the possibility also exists that an entirely different scenario will develop.

In this scenario, the forces that now surround us "come to our rescue."

Picture this: our military, as strapped as it is, is in Iraq, Afghanistan,
and maybe in the near future, Iran. We still have troops in South Korea, Germany and other places. Our national guard and reserves have been deployed overseas. Our law enforcement personnel are stretched thin. And then a major terrorist event-or a series of them-occurs. This event could be detonation of mini-nukes in major cities, release of a biological weapon starting a pandemic, or some other major media event-type attack.

Who do you call for help? Ghostbusters?

The plan is to call upon the UN to provide military, humanitarian and law enforcement relief. The only army big enough to handle a country of this size, with the means to move the personnel, is Red China (backed by Russia and the former Warsaw Pact states that we have been training for such an event at Fort Polk, Louisiana under Operation Cooperative Nugget).

Seem far-fetched? Then know this: a few years ago I had a nephew who attended the Command and Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. When his class graduated, a general from the Pentagon flew in to give the graduation speech. When he was introduced, it was mentioned that he was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations-whose mission in life is to develop a one world government (the New World Order) and who were the founders of the United Nations. This particular general stated in his speech that
(paraphrasing)"due to the build down or our armed forces, should we be deployed or committed on two or more fronts in the future and a major emergency occurs here, we will be forced to call upon foreign assets to police our streets."

Foreign assets? Who could that be?

Sun Tzu also said that "To subdue the enemy without fighting is the supreme excellence." With no guarded borders, and no one to guard them, and an avowed enemy who tells its military daily that "our main enemy is America," I would have to submit that this country is set up for a major fall, and very soon.

The good news is this: The Second Amendment. The Chinese military is very frustrated in the fact that their liberal socialist lackeys in Washington have not been able to totally disarm the American people-yet. They have, by means of Fabian Socialism (creeping) legislation, reduced our firepower by outlawing "types" of firearms-specifically those that have military applications-but have not been able to register for confiscation all the guns in the country like they have in Australia, the UK and Canada. China well knows after its failed expeditions into Vietnam and India that fighting an armed population or a guerrilla type war is not winnable unless you first
have the hearts and minds-and cooperation--of the population.

We also have another advantage, one not spoken off but still resident: Our combat veterans. The United States has the largest pool of combat veterans in our population of any country in the world. From our Vietnam generation (who is now in their 40s and 50s and beyond) to our Desert Storm, Somalia, and current Afghanistan and Iraq vets who are no longer serving, we have a cadre base of "trainers and leaders" second to none. When one factors this in, we have to consider that China may wait a few years for more of us to die off. But they won't wait forever. We are a weakened giant, one that has be subverted from within and without, and one considered ripe for the picking. They have to reduce our will to resist, plus our means of resisting before they can hope to "patrol our streets."

While the Chinese currently are reacting to Sun Tzu's axiom "Nothing is more difficult than the art of maneuvering for advantageous positions," I would offer another "old saying," this one derived from India: "Beware he who rides the tiger, lest he end up inside."

Still, we are at a very dangerous juncture. We are weakened, we have been subverted, and we are surrounded. And every time we buy something made in China, we are helping the enemy.

As the Samurai would say, often as a curse, "we are living in interesting times."

(To view a Powerpoint presentation on this topic, go to Craig Roberts' website, www.riflewarrior.com, scroll down to "articles" and select "We Are Surrounded.")

If one does not want to read and digest the long dissertation, I recommend at least watching the slide presentation. You do need Power Point on your computer.

Either way it is serious business and should not be taken lightly. Pick is right in his assessment of how people will react. I dare say, these are not the thoughts of a paranoid nut, but reflect many of the same philosophies that our top brass were taught and pounded with at the various War Colleges back in the seventies and eighties. I have had this discussion with several close friends who attended Air War College and Navy War College.

This could be the most important read you ever undertake and I also recommend that you copy and save the document in a priority file on your computer, ready for you and anyone else you can expose to it. It should become a reference that you refer to again and again until the concept is firmly imbedded in your mind..

I don't think he's paranoid. I don't know if he's dead-on, but I do believe this is not the same US I grew up in. Especially Cali.., escuse me, Kalifornia. I was born and raised near Bakersfield and it has held on to some of the traditional values, but I now live in San Jose and I'm remided daily of the lack of pride in being an American.

Anyway, rant over. What I wanted to say is that we are all guilty when it comes to all the foreign goods being sold here. Americans want a lot of "stuff" and we want it cheap. However, we aren't willing to work for cheap to make it, so it's sourced offshore. Until we all refuse to buy imported goods, it's only going to get worse. I'm no expert on global economy, but I can't see how this current trend is good.

Since that's never, ever going to happen, what do we do? I'm not asking that to say I have an answer, I'm asking it because I would like to see some positive change here in our country. I'll pay more for goods if I know they are made here. Maybe I won't have so much "stuff" but then again maybe I'm indirectly protecting my job, and therefore my ability to buy stuff, by purchasing US made goods.

For starters I guess I better go sell my Toyota Highlander, my Tikka Hunter, my Springfrield Armory XD 40 and my son's CZ. Oh, and all of my bikes, and the parts on them, most of my shoes and clothing. Does my Beretta 96 count? It's made in the USA, but the parent company was an Axis power.

Carter gave away the Panama Canal, and now China operates it-and has total control of who uses it, what ships come and go, and who disembarks from those ships in Panama (such as Chinese males of military age that disappear into the hinterlands and later surface in Mexico close to our southern border).

Click to expand...

China does not operate the Panama Canal, the Panama Canal Authority does. Claiming that China has the kind of control that Roberts says it does is foolish. I have not checked the other "facts" that Craig Roberts is presenting in the article, but with a whopper like the one above, I would not repeat anything he says without carefully checking it for errors.

Craig Robert's article does not scare me. He is not reliable enough to do so.

China does not operate the Panama Canal, the Panama Canal Authority does. Claiming that China has the kind of control that Roberts says it does is foolish. I have not checked the other "facts" that Craig Roberts is presenting in the article, but with a whopper like the one above, I would not repeat anything he says without carefully checking it for errors.

Craig Robert's article does not scare me. He is not reliable enough to do so.

Click to expand...

Not saying he doesn't have some valid points buried in there, but some of
the boo-boo's are pretty glaring.

"When I see this I can't help but think of Diego Garcia, our forward deployment base in the Pacific"

Did they move it? My map says Diego Garcia is in the middle of the Indian
Ocean

Not saying he doesn't have some valid points buried in there, but some of
the boo-boo's are pretty glaring.

"When I see this I can't help but think of Diego Garcia, our forward deployment base in the Pacific"

Did they move it? My map says Diego Garcia is in the middle of the Indian
Ocean

Click to expand...

Hahahaha. I missed that one. I should know better, I spent a few days there back in the 80's when my submarine was on a WestPac run. I think Robert's article is no better than the crap put out by CNN and other major news companies. Think about their coverage of gun control and the idiocy that passes for coverage of the nuclear power plant problems in Japan.

aaronl, I hear you, and like some of you I look at labels. The other day I was at Wally World looking at pad locks, and I found one made in the U.S.A. It cost more than the others,but so what? I don't think we can get America off the cheap foreign made products that have flooded our markets. I believe that the only way for us to get these items off the shelves is for our Government to wake up, and put America back to work, by placing a tariff on all imports. This would make the once cheap product more expensive, thus allowing an American Company to manufacture the product at a cost that is at least competitive.

Will China end up owning the U.S.? I don't know! Will China fight a war with the U.S.? I don't know. What I do know is that this Country is broke! Looking back on history I find that when a country goes down, ANOTHER arises in it's place, not the same one as before, but another different type, or form of, government.

I believe that the only way for us to get these items off the shelves is for our Government to wake up, and put America back to work, by placing a tariff on all imports. This would make the once cheap product more expensive, thus allowing an American Company to manufacture the product at a cost that is at least competitive.

Click to expand...

Tariffs are a double edged sword. The USA exports goods also. We could find ourselves subject to retaliatory tariffs in return. There are other ways to be competitive. If we are pricing ourselves out of the market, then we need to become more efficient. Unfortunately one way some companies do this is to reduce wages, which is something no wage earner wants to happen.

Tariffs are a double edged sword. The USA exports goods also. We could find ourselves subject to retaliatory tariffs in return. There are other ways to be competitive. If we are pricing ourselves out of the market, then we need to become more efficient. Unfortunately one way some companies do this is to reduce wages, which is something no wage earner wants to happen.

Click to expand...

I totally agree that tariffs are a two edged sword, and that other nations might retaliate, and impose a tariff on what we import to their country. I also agree that American's are going to have to take a cut in pay. Not just to bring down the price of American made products, but to help balance the budget of our States, and our Nation. Right now though America is a Country of Servants, not a Country of Manufacturers, therefore, we don't have much to export! I say impose the tariff on imports, and as our Nation gets back to a better financial footing, we can then work on the average American's income, and the posibility of removing the tariff. NAFTA, and GAT have to be repealed. America has to stop allowing our Companies to move to foreign shores so they can manufacture a product cheeper, while increasing the number of unemployeed, here at home. Not to mention that the product they now manufacture at a lower price still costs the same here, in the store, if not more. None of this means anything though, unless we can, as a Nation, control our spending, balance our budget, and pay off our debt right now!